ASM Europe Increases Quality Process Standards for Semiconductor Industry

TORONTO, March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- ASM Europe, a division of ASM International N.V. NASDAQ: ASMI Euronext: ASM Amsterdam: ASM, equipment supplier to the global semiconductor industry, has selected Dyadem's FMEA-Pro software to standardize quality processes. Dyadem FMEA-Pro is a desktop software solution that automates the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) engineering quality method.

Dyadem, a leader in Quality Lifecycle Management and Risk Lifecycle Management solutions, is helping ASM Europe transfer its quality processes from a manual spreadsheet-like application to FMEA-Pro, which is configured to allow teams to carry information from one FMEA to the next, use a common library of terms, and share best practices across divisions.

"Until we began using Dyadem's software, FMEAs were rarely performed. Now the tighter quality control gives us a great competitive advantage," said Max van den Berg, Principal Engineer, Research, Development & Engineering, ASM Europe B.V. "Our implementation of FMEA-Pro has eliminated the use of time- consuming spreadsheets, and changed the way we look at quality across our European operations.

"After an initial adjustment period, our employees are impressed with the new FMEA quality process, and the value it brings to our organization. Our management team is enthusiastic about the new program, and can now attach tangible metrics to safety. We were also pleased to discover that some of our presumed risks are actually lower than our estimates," said Leon Limonard, Senior Engineer (RD&E) at ASM Europe B.V.

ASM Europe has standardized its FMEA quality process across its 700-person European operations with common templates that align consistent quality standards. Information is captured with continuous metrics and consistent FMEA analyses.

"ASM Europe is raising the bar in the semiconductor industry with FMEA quality standards," said Kevin North, president and CEO, Dyadem. "There's no doubt that strict and consistent quality processes are valuable in any manufacturing environment. Everyone in the value chain benefits from better quality and the only way to address quality holistically is to manage it across the entire lifecycle."

About Dyadem International

Founded in 1993, Dyadem is the market leader in Quality Lifecycle Management and Risk Lifecycle Management solutions. Dyadem provides software and services that empower companies to manage quality, mitigate risks, achieve regulatory compliance, plan for business continuity and improve profitability. Dyadem works with 85% of the Fortune 500 companies and serves the high tech & electronics, medical devices, oil and gas, chemical, automotive, pharmaceutical and aerospace and defense industries. For more information, visit www.dyadem.com

About ASM International

ASM International N.V., headquartered in Bilthoven, the Netherlands, and its subsidiaries design and manufacture equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. ASM International and its subsidiaries provide production solutions for wafer processing (Front-end segment) as well as assembly and packaging (Back-end segment) through facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia. ASM International's common stock trades on NASDAQ (symbol ASMI) and the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange (symbol ASM). For more information, visit ASMI's website at www.asm.com.

    For further information, contact:

    Dyadem International Ltd           Text 100 Public Relations
    Angela Schwecke                    Greg Sabey
    905.762.5243                       617.399.4909
    aschwecke@dyadem.com               dyadem@text100.com